Scanner Epson v500 or..?

[gabri.guido]

Hello!

It's a bit that I'm shooting with my Pentax ME Super and after trying to develop negatives by my own, I would like to be more "independent" scanning them too, since having them scanned by labs is too expensive.

So, since I'm new to this, I would like to have your opinion and suggestions on what kind of scanner I should buy.
After some research, I opted for the Epson v500, since with it I could do either 35mm and 6x6.

Hope you could help me!
Thank you
Gabriele

 

[pbromaghin]

This thread should be moved to the Hybrid group.

That being said, sure, it's a good scanner and will work well for you.

 

[fretlessdavis]

Also, check out the Epson 4490, pretty much the same thing as the V500, and they're cheap these days. I got a fairly usable 2000 DPI scanning out of mine. basically 2000x3000 from a 35mm, and about 5000x5000 for 6x6. More than adequate for small prints and web usage.

I may be offering mine up, as don't do the hybrid thing myself anymore, as I rarely do color. Worked great for me, though!

 

[Barry Kirsten]

I have an Epson V600 which is also very good. But what are you going to do with your scans? I presume you intend to print your photos with an inkjet printer. I know a lot of people do this, but from my experience unless you invest in an expensive printer and good quality paper you may be disappointed with the results. I have an Epson T50 inkjet and work almost exclusively in B&W; I can never get prints from it approaching the quality of silver prints. I want rich blacks and can only get wishy-washy blacks and unwanted colour casts in my inkjet prints, although I choose greyscale in my workflow. Just my thoughts.

Barry

 

[jspillane]

Don't print scans! PRINT NEGATIVES.
(scan for the web)

 

[snapguy]

Epson

I have an Epson V500 Photo and love it. It took me a while to learn how to make great scans to be used for large prints but recently a pro at scanning told me my scans were fine for 11x14 inch prints or even prints four times larger.

 

[tkamiya]

I have that scanner, and I use it to post to the gallery here....

If you choose to go with this scanner, you should be aware of limitations.

The resulting files are not as sharp as some of the higher end scanners or dedicated film scanners. That much is obvious. One less obvious thing is this. The way the negative carriers are constructed, it doesn't handle curled negative strips very well. In my case, films often dry curled and end up touching the glass causing Newton's rings. I think there are third party carriers that take care of this.

One benefit is, because of the way the carrier is constructed, it can handle panoramic negatives as is.

I like mine.

 

[SuzanneR]

This is off topic for APUG, but a great question for our sister site, DPUG. You'll find a link at the very top of the page.